Student’s idea sparks Oceanside officers to start taking police reports via Zoom

Oceanside Police Lt. Taurino Valdovinos, a part-time college instructor, knows a good idea when he hears one.

When one of his students came up with an innovative way to help people better communicate with police agencies during the pandemic, he passed it along to his colleagues.

The Oceanside Police Department added a button to its website last week so people can file police reports via Zoom. Previously, such reports could be made only in person or over the phone.

Valdovinos teaches in the online master’s program in law enforcement and public safety leadership at the University of San Diego. Last fall, he asked students in his Communication Skills for Law Enforcement Leaders course to come up with ideas on how to better serve community members in an era of social distancing and social unrest.

Many of his students’ papers explored how departments could expand the use of YouTube and hire employees to better use social media to reach out to community members. But one of Valdovinos’ students, a Jacksonville, Fla., sheriff’s deputy named Benjamin McEwan, suggested departments use the videoconferencing platform Zoom to take police reports.

Valdovinos said McEwan’s idea — which allows residents to talk directly with a police officer over a video call — seemed an excellent way to improve communication during this time. “COVID isn’t going to go away so we have to adjust to social distancing and those kinds of things,” he said.

The lieutenant brought the idea to his department. After reserving an account with Zoom, establishing procedures on how the process would work and training staff, Oceanside police added a button to its website last week.

Department spokesman Tom Bussey said the initiative is designed to better serve people who don’t want to come into the station because of the pandemic, but who still want a face-to-face experience.

“It just helps if there are additional questions, and we get to see who you are and you get to see who we are,” Bussey said. “I think it is more community friendly.”

McEwan — who got an A for the assignment — said he got the idea after seeing criminal courts in his county using Zoom for remote hearings. He has since completed his master’s degree in law enforcement and public safety leadership.

McEwan said he’s excited to hear Oceanside is trying out his idea — and he might suggest his department implement it too.

“I am very excited about Lt. Valdovinos suggesting and putting in the hard work to have it implemented in Oceanside,” he said in an email. “I hope the idea is a success and greatly benefits their department and citizens.”

People who click on the Oceanside Police Department link can set up the time they want a Zoom meeting, and someone in the department will send a link for the conference. The incident being reported must have occurred within the city limits of Oceanside, excluding areas under the California Highway Patrol jurisdiction such as state Route 78 or Interstate 5.

Reports of thefts, harassing phone calls and other matters — anything the department would take over the counter at a station — can be made via Zoom. For stolen vehicle or identity theft reports, however, they must be made in person because officers need to verify certain documents for those kinds of cases, Valdovinos said.